Introduction

The government’s decision to revoke Rajiv Gandhi Foundation and Rajiv Gandhi Charitable Trust’s registration under the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) is being contested by the petitions they filed. Sonia Gandhi, the president of the Congress, is the head of both non-governmental organisations (NGOs). Trustee members of the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation include Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi, P Chidambaram, a former prime minister of India, and Manmohan Singh.

Argument Advance

For the government, Central Government Standing Counsel (CGSC) Kirtiman Singh and Additional Solicitor General Chetan Sharma appeared and stated that they wanted to bring up the maintainability issue.

The first reports of the FCRA license being revoked for NGOs appeared in October 2022. The Economic Times reported that both organizations’ FCRA registrations were revoked due to apparent legal violations. The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) allegedly established an inter-ministerial committee in July 2020 to look into some anomalies involving NGOs, and the decision was made after the committee’s report revealed numerous FCRA violations.

According to a press release from the Press Information Bureau (PIB) in December 2022, the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation’s (RGF) FCRA licence was revoked under section 14 of the FCRA because it had violated section 11’s rules and section 12(4)(a)(vi)’s requirements for registration.

Analysis of court decision

The Delhi high court single bench Justice Jyoti Singh listed the case for deciding the same on July 28. Additionally, it stated that no notices are being given at this time because the Court will first determine one maintainability of the claim.

The single bench of the Delhi High Court had also complained that the government had requested adjournments at least four times, which resulted in the issuing of the notice requiring eight hearings. However, it was adjourned a few times because the Bench did not show up. The government attorney requested an adjournment when the case was called for hearing on February 3 and stated that Solicitor General Tushar Mehta will appear in the matter. The government attorney requested adjournments on three additional occasions, claiming that the Solicitor General was delayed in other courts. The government attorney requested a pass-over once more as the case was called for hearing today, but Justice Singh indicated she would take the matter under notice. The bench noted that this is a Regular First Appeal (RFA) as a result. It cannot be thrown out in limine. Let’s be a little more realistic now that eight dates have passed.